


Rule #36: Don't work with your family members

by Nervous_Squid



Series: The Galaxy Garrison's Instructors Handbook [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Holt family is life, Romance, What year is Voltron set in?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 13:51:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17204558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nervous_Squid/pseuds/Nervous_Squid
Summary: Galaxy Garrison’s 78th Christmas PartyStaff onlyFree drinksHunk Garrett Approved Catering- No Students Allowed –Lance and Pidge attend their first Galaxy Garrison Christmas Party.They learn that Family should not be allowed to work together.





	1. His Side of the Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you need to read part 1 first? Not really, but some things might not make sense. 
> 
> Has it been months since I wrote anything (Except term papers)? Yup
> 
> Do I have another fic that I am supposed to be updating? Yup (Writers block I hate you)
> 
> Was I emotionally broken after S8? For a few days yes but Pidge in pigtails, the Colleen-Katie bond, Allura-Pidge friendship, the Keith-Lance moments, and omg there were still a lot of other good things in there despite that thing at the end which still makes me tears up and it shall not be mentioned. 
> 
> Am I excited for all the fanfic possibilities post S8? Cannot wait to write and read all the amazing fics that will come post S8

Lance quietly sipped his wine, a hand in his suit pocket, while he entered the main hall. He could hardly recognize the Garrison’s canteen. Instead of the long tables and the orange clad students, red and green tinsel hung on the walls, linking up to the too tall Christmas tree that was bent at the top where it hit the ceiling.

 

The turnout tonight was surprisingly good, despite the initial reservations his colleagues had when Iverson appointed Rizavi to helm their staff Christmas party preparations. He suspected that the free bar was certainly a nice selling point.

 

His gaze sweeps through the throes of party goers, dressed in festive formal wear as opposed to their usual grey uniforms, as he looks for a particular head of tangled brown hair. Lance clicked his phone open, the blue screen glaring back at him with no sign of new messages from Pidge.  

 

“Lance!” Shiro said, interrupting his search.

 

“Hey, Shiro,” Lance smirked as he saw Shiro, sporting a grey tux, never one to venture far from uniform.

 

“How’s teaching going?” Shiro asked, clapping Lance on the shoulder with his newly outfitted robotic arm.  

 

“It’s not as exciting as saving the universe,” Lance laughed, rubbing his shoulder, “but it certainly pays better”

 

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it; our students couldn’t have found a better flight instructor,” Shiro said, the pride clear in his voice, “but what’s this I hear about you dismissing one of your classes early?”

 

“Oh… that! It was a.. personal emergency,” Lance gulped, a prickling warmth creeping up his neck, “There was.. something wrong with my heart?”

 

“Is everything ok?” Shiro asked, an eyebrow raised, “I know a good cardiologist if you need to get it checked out”

 

“I’m sure it’s fine!” Lance said, heat building up on his cheeks, “I’ll make sure it doesn’t interfere with class”

 

“Are you sure?” Shiro asked, “Your face is looking red”

 

“I’m sure it’s just the wine,” Lance said quickly, putting his wine down on a passing server’s tray. Shiro nodded warily, watching Lance fiddle with his jacket.

 

“Have you heard anything about the explosions in the science wing yesterday?” Shiro asked, eyebrows drawn together in a way that made him look much older than his years, “None of the reports I’ve received are making any sense”

 

“Science wing?” Lance asked, vaguely recalling the explosions occurring during his afternoon flight class.

 

“I’m not sure, but have you seen Pidge-” Lance began before a sharp pain in his shoulder cut him off. He began to nurse his arm, turning to find another woman doing the same.

 

* * *

 

 

When the woman began ranting about the inadequate heating in the room, Lance reminded himself that his parents would want him to be polite to all people he met.

 

When this rant evolved into the apparently lack luster decorations, Lance began to resent his parents’ policy on being polite to strangers. He couldn’t recognize the woman, but he assumed she was part of the Galaxy Garrison staff, although, he wouldn’t put it past some of the more exuberant fans to sneak in just to meet the paladins of Voltron.

 

When Shiro abandoned him in favor of making sure a drunk Iverson didn’t cause too much damage – ‘We don’t want a repeat of the Christmas of ’67’ – Lance knew he needed to come up with his own escape plan.

 

If it was Keith, well, one of Keith’s glares would send anyone packing before this could even become an issue but Lance knew no one could pull off angry disinterest as well as Keith.

 

Hunk would be nice enough to engage in conversation about improving the décor, or at least figure out a way to worm food into the conversation, which wouldn’t be helping Lance’s escape plan efforts.

 

He knew for a fact that Pidge would tell this woman exactly where to shove her ridiculous complaints which would definitely ruin his family’s politeness policy, despite the temptation.

 

Shiro, as Lance experienced first-hand, would happily throw one of his comrades under the bus to escape such unwanted attention; which would be an excellent plan if Lance had another comrade to sacrifice.

 

Lance briefly wondered if this woman was even breathing in between sentences; she had just begun talking about Voltron and Lance realized she had no intention of stopping anytime soon. Lance cursed under his breath, realizing the only way he was getting out of this was -

 

“Lance?”

 

\- A Christmas Miracle.

Lance didn’t realize the vision of Colleen Holt, approaching him with a smile and a flute of white wine balanced between her fingers could be better than seeing the blue lion for the first time. He heard Colleen make some form of apology to the woman before whisking him away to where Sam was entertaining some visiting foreign dignitaries from Olkarion.

 

“Nice to see you again, Sam” Lance said, reaching for a handshake only to be pulled into a hug.

 

“We’re huggers in this family, Lance!” Sam laughed, bidding farewell to the group of from Olkarion.

 

“How was your holiday?” Lance asked them both, accepting the wine Colleen offered him with a smile.

 

“It was amazing!” Sam said, eyebrows reaching his hairline in excitement, “- Apart from the sunburn, but still - amazing!”

“Varadero was beautiful,” Colleen added, “and your family were so kind to host both of us!”

 

“It was our family’s pleasure, you’re welcome whenever you want to go” Lance said, “My Mom loves having a full house, especially with most of her kids out of the country”

 

“I understand the feeling,” Colleen said, glaring pointedly at her husband, “I’d give my left arm to get the rest of my family out of their labs and back in the house for one night”

 

“You should come over to our house next Thursday,” Sam coughed, ignoring Colleen’s glare, “We can watch the live stream of the Clear Day arm-wrestling competition!”

 

“You should definitely come over,” Colleen said, leaving little room for refusal, “We’ve missed you around the house, Katie’s always more well-behaved when you visit”

 

“If only I could convince her to clean up more,” Lance laughed, shivering at the thought of the trash piles she had stuffed under her bed, “I’ve actually been meaning to ask you both something”

 

Lance clears his throat, nervously fiddling with his tie while Sam and Colleen nod at him encouragingly, waiting for him to speak.

 

“Mr and Mrs Holt,” he began, ignoring their raised eyebrows at his formality, “I’d like to officially ask for your blessing to –”

 

“Marry Katie?” Colleen squealed, a sparkle in her eyes.

 

“What?!” Lance choked on air for a moment, “I- I was going to ask If I could date her!”

 

Lance continued to pound his chest as he tried to cough out his embarrassment while Sam and Colleen had similar expressions of confusion etched into their features.

 

“Haven’t you two been dating this whole time?” Sam asked, readjusting his glasses.

 

“No,” Lance coughs, “I mean – we’ve gone on dates, but we haven’t been officially dating”

 

“Alright,” Colleen said, her shoulders slumping in disappointment, “I suppose you should date first”

 

Lance is saved from further embarrassment when Colleen notices Shiro struggling with Iverson in the distance.

 

“Should we help?” she said, looking at Sam who was watching nervously as Iverson began pulling Shiro onto the dance floor, “If Iverson makes it onto that dance floor it will be the Christmas of ’67 all over again”

 

“Do we have to?” Sam asks, receiving a sharp glare from his wife.

 

“We should rescue Shiro at least!” Colleen argued.

 

“Fine,” Sam said, “Operation rescue Shiro it is”

 

* * *

 

Lance continued his search for Pidge, parting ways with the Holts with the promise of staying over for the next Holt family movie marathon – intergalactic sci-fi films were next on the schedule apparently. He wanders around the edge of the dance floor until he sees a familiar head of brown hair weaving through the dancers. He quickly tries to follow and he’s successful until he bumps into one of the couples dancing, accidentally bumping into a waiter and causing several glasses of red wine to crash to the floor.

 

“Isn’t it too early for you to be drunk?”

 

Lance sighs in annoyance, easily recognizing the voice. He turned to find Veronica and Matt watching him with a mixture of amusement and concern. Amusement being Veronica and concern being Matt.

 

“I’m not drunk,” he retorts, thanking Matt for the napkins to dry off his sleeves, “I’m looking for Pidge”

 

“So that’s why you’re looking so desperate,” Veronica said.

 

“She was talking to Hunk about fixing her phone a while ago,” Matt said, a teasing smile on his face, “I hear you two have finally realized that you’ve been dating for the past four months”

 

“We haven’t actually,” Lance said, ignoring their smirks, “… started dating officially yet”

 

“What? Are you sure?” Matt laughed, before he became serious, “because if that’s true, I need you to lie to Hunk for me – we have a betting pool going on”

 

“Lance,” Veronica began, shoulders shaking from laughter, “You do know what dating is, right?”

 

“First of all, I refuse to take part in swindling the other Paladins – It’s a rule we added in the Paladin code of conduct last year after the Unilu incident,” Lance began seriously, while both Matt and Veronica continued to laugh at his expense.

 

“and secondly, I know what dating is,” Lance muttered.

 

“Lance, you know how much my family loves you,” Matt smiled, patting him on the shoulder, “And I’m pretty sure you’re mom’s favorite child”

 

Lance smiled warmly in return, thankful for how the Holts have practically adopted him into their family, insisting he come over every week for one reason or another, especially with most of his family either occupied with garrison work or living in a different country.

 

“ – But if you hurt my baby sister,” Matt said, a dark look on his face, “I’m telling _Shiro_!”

 

“You can’t!” Lance spluttered, the color draining from his face as the warm thoughts of the Holt family home gave way to images of Shiro using his diplomatic immunity to maroon him on an uninhabited moon, “You know he won’t take this well!”

 

“Don’t worry about Shiro, Lance,” Veronica reassured, a mischievous glint in her eyes, “What you need to worry about is mom”

 

“Why would I-” Lance said.

 

“She’s already planning your wedding on Varadero,” Veronica said, “So if you mess this up, she will kill you”

 

“A beach wedding sounds really cool,” Matt added, ignoring Lance as he spluttered in an attempt to form coherent sentences, “It would be nice getting leave from the Garrison to go to Varadero”

 

“Do you think Shiro would allow so many of us to be on leave at once,” Veronica pondered, mentally counting how many of them would need to be away for the wedding, “That’s seven, including Hunk, and I’m not even counting Shiro – he’ll want to be there too”

 

“Wait, if Shiro is going to be on leave for the wedding,” Matt said, his brows crinkled together, “Who’s taking over as the acting Admiral?”

 

“Technically, the next in line would be Sam,” Veronica began, “but if he’s on leave too then next in line is actually Iverson”

 

“Well as long as we leave when Shiro does, then we won’t have any problems,” Matt said.

 

“What we don’t know won’t hurt us,” Veronica agreed solemnly.

 

“Thanks guys,” Lance huffed, “Really, thanks so much for your assistance here”

 

* * *

 

“Commander McClain, fancy running to you on the dancefloor!”

 

Lance sighed, turning to find the woman from earlier already far too close for him to pretend he hadn’t seen her.

 

“I love this song,” she said, fluttering her eyelashes as she leaned in close enough that her perfume overwhelmed him.

 

Despite popular opinion, Lance wasn’t an idiot. He might be a little slow sometimes – especially when it came to the science and technology that Pidge and Hunk could get so wrapped up in – but he caught on eventually. Years spent watching his teams backs and eliminating any lurking dangers as their sharpshooter meant he knew what this woman wanted.

 

Lance couldn’t lie, this woman was both tall and shapely and he was sure her smile alone could bring men to her feet. Once upon a time he would have immediately jumped at the chance just to talk to such a beautiful woman but somewhere in between discovering a lion-themed alien warship and liberating his home from Galra rule, beautiful had become messy brown locks and snappy without at least three cups of coffee.

 

“I hear you’re a great dancer,” she said, her smile becoming more and more strained, “Would you like to dance with me?”

 

“I’m sorry,” Lance sighed, “but I’m kind of looking for someone else”

 

Lance’s apology died on his tongue when she began walking away so quickly that he barely caught her scowl.

 

“Ouch,” a voice said from behind him, “Looks like our Loverboy Lance has finally become a heartbreaker”

 

Lance smiled, warmth filling his chest at the sweet sound of the familiar sarcasm.

 

“Pidge,” he sighed in relief, eyes widening at the sight of her. Her untamable mess of hair was pulled back into a messy bun. He could easily count the freckles dusting her cheeks without any make-up in the way. She still hasn’t learned to use it, despite Colleen’s attempts to ambush her with make-up every Wednesday morning.

 

“Earth to Lance?” she said, waving a hand in front of his face, “You still in there?”

 

“Where have you been all night?” he said exasperatedly, catching her hand and tangling their fingers together.

 

“I’ve been trying to avoid Iverson,” she muttered, “but I see you’ve been enjoying yourself with Lieutenant Shaybon over there”

 

“Shaybon?” he asked, following her gaze to where the woman from earlier was glaring at them, “Do you know her?”

 

“ _You_ know her,” Pidge said, glaring at him pointedly, “You used to flirt with her back in chemistry class”

 

“I did chemistry?” he said, “What was I doing in a chemistry class?”

 

“Chasing the ‘love of your life’,” Pidge deadpanned, “Is what you told me when I advised against a fighter pilot taking advanced organic chemistry as his elective”

 

“Did I pass?” Lance asked, laughter at the edge of his voice.

 

“Barely,” Pidge said, blowing a loose strand of hair out of her face, “And only because Hunk and I helped you finish your chemistry project”

 

“I didn’t even recognize her,” Lance said, gently brushing the hair out of her face, “Is she an instructor?”

 

“She’s a lieutenant now, in the accounting division,” Pidge supplied, pulling her hands away to fix her hair, “What kind of astro-explorer majors in accounting?”

 

“Who knew she would become a lieutenant in accounting?” Lance said, pulling her close to redo her bun himself, ignoring the fluttering in his chest as she looked up at him in annoyance.

 

“Well, you sure know how to pick them Lance,” Pidge huffed, crossing her arms over her chest to put some distance between them.

 

“I do have the best taste in women,” Lance said, leaning in towards her, trying to catch her gaze.

 

“Lance, four out of every ten women you’ve flirted with have tried to kill you,” she said, lowering her voice, “I’m one of those four”

 

“None of them have ever succeeded,” Lance said.

 

“yet,” Pidge added, her eyes sparkling with mischief, “I still have _plenty_ of time”

 

“You look so beautiful when you threaten to kill me,” Lance sighed, his lips drawn into a half smirk as he leaned in close to brush a soft kiss onto her cheek.  

 

“Thanks,” Pidge said, her eyes finally focusing on his. He smiled as he could see the anger rolling off of her as she leaned further into his arms.

 

“You clean up quite nicely yourself,” she breathed.

 

“It’s all in the hair,” Lance smirked, “All it needs is a little-”

 

“Don’t ruin the moment,” Pidge said, smacking his shoulder with enough force to rival Shiro’s crystal powered robotic arm, “And why were Matt and Veronica planning our wedding?”

 

“Actually, I think it’s our moms planning the wedding,” Lance laughed, “I hear they’ve agreed on a beach wedding”

 

“Did I miss the part where I agreed to marry you?” Pidge said, an eyebrow raised in challenge.

 

“Is that..” Lance coughed, the heat burning his face definitely not because of the wine, “open for discussion?”

 

“I’m opposed to the sand,” she said, nose scrunching up in amusement.

 

“I’ll make sure to remove the sand from Varadero beach before you get there,” he said, pressing another kiss to her temple.  

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am happy with 50% of this  
> 20% needs more editing  
> 30% was such a struggle to write but I felt it needed to be in there
> 
> I hope I spelled everything correctly but I am human and we make many many errors, so feel free to tell me so I can fix it. 
> 
> And yes this fic was created solely because I want more Lance/Holt fam interactions. 
> 
> Side note, in case it was confusing ’67 didn’t mean 1967 or any other century before that, I have no clue what year Voltron is set in. 
> 
> And hopefully I finish Part 2 Her Side of the story soon. 
> 
> Thanks for making it all the way down here.


	2. Extra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge's side of the story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be extended but I decided that this was the part that I wanted out the most

 

Hunk had seen warships torn in half, he himself had made more than a few dents in some Galra cruisers during his time in space but he had never seen such a horrific act of technological destruction until today. The detailed wiring inside the phone – a model he had assembled himself – were melted together, causing the screen to display a dark nothingness.

 

“So,” Pidge asked, hands clasped together as she watched the color drain from Hunk’s face, “Can we fix it?”

 

“What did you do to it Pidge?” Hunk said, his voice teary.

 

“I didn’t do anything,” Pidge said, arms raised defensively, “I was just trying to show my students how to fix the wiring on the Atlas’ weapons system without the correct tools on hand”

 

“Hold up,” Hunk said, “The explosions in the science wing yesterday-”

 

“It’s not like I caused any casualties,” Pidge huffed, rolling her eyes.

 

“Casualties?!” Hunk said, “This phone is state of the art Pidge! It’s a significant casualty!”

 

“It’s fine, I know we can fix it Hunk,” Pidge said, grinning up at him.

 

“Have you told Shiro about this?” Hunk said, worriedly, “He’s been asking for reports on those explosions since yesterday”

 

“Which is why he hasn’t seen me since yesterday,” she said, looking around wearily, “He’s not close by is he?”

 

Hunk tearily put the phone away before he scanned the crowd for Shiro, “I see him he’s over there with Lance”

 

At the mention of Lance’s name Pidge immediately turned her gaze to the tall brown-haired flight instructor only to see him accosted by another woman.

 

“Did you see that?” Hunk said, his eyes widening as he watched Lance in the distance.

 

“Yes, Hunk,” Pidge said, lips drawn into a tight frown, “I see that”

 

“That woman just rammed into him,” Hunk gasped, gaze flickering between Lance and the seething woman next to him, “Do you think it was on purpose? She looks familiar, what’s her name again? Isn’t that Henrietta-”

 

“Shaybon,” Pidge said through her teeth, glaring at the woman’s tall figure and her skin-tight red dress “Lieutenant Henrietta Shaybon”

 

“She seems really familiar” Hunk said, “Did she-”

 

“Lance struck out with her _and_ her sister back when we were all students,” Pidge said, watching the woman continue to pry into Lance and Shiro’s conversation.

 

“She’s standing awfully close to Lance, wait-” Hunk said, giddily watching the drama, “Is she flirting with Lance?”

 

Hunk turned to find Pidge glaring at him pointedly, the coldness in her stare making the temperature around them drop several degrees.

 

“Pidge?” Hunk said, tugging nervously at his shirt collar.

 

“Hunk, what does the Handbook say about maiming your colleagues?” Pidge asked in a low voice.

 

“I’m pretty sure that’s highly frowned upon,” Hunk added, stepping in front of Pidge and blocking her view just before she could see the woman place a hand on Lance’s arm.

 

“What about inflicting non-permanent injuries?” Pidge said, arms crossing over her chest.

 

“That’s also solid no,” Hunk said, stretching his arms as Pidge tried to duck past him.

 

“Hunk,” Pidge said, a dark look over her features.

 

“Commander Holt,” Commander Iverson shouted.

 

“Does he know about the science wing incident?” Hunk asked, watching as Commander Iverson strode towards them.

 

“We’re putting this murder plot on hold for now,” Pidge said, quickly making her escape into the crowd.

 

“I am not taking part in this Pidge!” Hunk whisper shouted after her as Iverson made his way towards him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for making it this far.


End file.
